Family practice
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Pharmacists, as experts in medicines, are increasingly employed in general practices and undertake a range of responsibilities. Audit and feedback (A&F) interventions are effective in achieving behaviour change, including prescribing. The extent of pharmacist involvement in A&F interventions to influence prescribing is unknown. This review aimed to assess the effectiveness of A&F interventions involving pharmacists on prescribing in general practice compared with no A&F/usual care and to describe features of A&F interventions and pharmacist characteristics. ⋯ A&F interventions involving pharmacists can lead to small improvements in evidence-based prescribing in general practice settings. Future implementation of A&F within general practice should compare different ways of involving pharmacists to determine how to optimize effectiveness.PRISMA-compliant abstract included in Supplementary Material 1.
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Association between maternal haemoglobin (Hb) and low birth weight (LBW) remains a controversial topic, and data in China were sparse. ⋯ Anaemia in delivering women was associated with an elevated risk of LBW and the risk increased with the severity of anaemia, especially among pregnant women with high education, long duration of gestation and multiple antenatal visits from Jiangxi Province, China.
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Obesity is a chronic disease with rising prevalence. Guidelines suggest medications for obesity management if lifestyle interventions do not lead to substantial weight loss. Randomized control trials have shown the efficacy of anti-obesity medications in inducing weight loss, but real-world data are lacking. Therefore, our study aims to evaluate anti-obesity medications' effectiveness in reducing weight and improving cardiometabolic parameters and to assess their persistence in a real-world setting. ⋯ Liraglutide 3 mg was the primary medication associated with clinically significant weight loss and had the highest persistence rate in our real-world study.
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Lifestyle factors are known to play a role in the development of hypertension. We aimed to study the relationship between lifestyle and hypertension in a Chinese population. ⋯ The risk of hypertension is inversely related to the healthy lifestyle score. This reinforces the need to address lifestyle to reduce the risk of hypertension.
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Globally an estimated 1 in 16 women per year experience an unwanted pregnancy (UWP). In the Netherlands, general practitioners (GPs) play an important role in providing care for women with UWP; however, it is unknown how many of these women consult their GP about the pregnancy. UWPs are a major life experience with a possible influence on mental health. Data that GPs register about UWPs, psychosocial problems, and contraceptive use could give more insight into care needs. ⋯ The finding that women with UWP experience more psychosocial problems can be used to improve aftercare and can be incorporated into current guidelines for GPs.